Tag: Grinder

Today I took receipt of a Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinder, destined for Thieving Harry’s in Hull. The Mythos has become a bit of a big deal, some may say a game changer in the world of coffee. It most certainly has become a go-to grinder for any speciality coffee shop. We haven’t yet got the Mythos unboxed – a longer post about its benefits in practical use will come at a later stage once its dialled in and we’ve fine tuned the results we’re looking for. In the mean time, I thought it worth listing the key benefits as stated by the manufacturer, Nuova Simonelli.

Micrometric grinds adjustments

Special Steel Burrs

Long lasting, titanium and special steel burrs. Designed and built with innovative technologies that guarantee effective grinding and consistent grinding all through the day. Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinders are designed to avoid overheating the coffee, so preserving the organoleptic values.

Easy Maintenance

Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinders are simple to set up, easy to clean and quick to maintain. At each service a record is kept of the grinder’s settings so it can be quickly restarted, with no waste of coffee.

Multi-Function LCD Display

An advanced electronic system manages every step in the grinding, so the barista can control every function. A practical and intuitive control panel guarantees maximum flexibility of usage.

Residue Free Grinding

Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinders are designed to expel all the coffee from the grinding chamber so there is no residue. This guarantees ground coffee that is always fresh, long lasting consistent quality and also prevents the burrs from overheating. The specific angle of the burrs in the Mythos is designed to ensure that all coffee is expelled.

Clima Pro Technology

New technology with thermal stability system that grants maximum consistency of each dose.

Clump Crusher

Total elimination of static cling from the ground particles. The dose is dropped into the centre of the portafilter with less than a gram of grounds retained between doses, reducing the need to purge between doses and waste beans.

Ergonomic Front

Open lines of sight to the grounds dispensing and grind adjustment knob, along with the LED illuminated work space.

Stop and Go

Allows the barista to pause the dose and resume grinding, as desired.

Quietness

Mythos One total silence is mark of its superb technology, which is the combined result of using the highest quality materials along with excellent construction precision.

I get to taste quite a lot of espresso throughout my working week, and when travel permits, on the weekend too. I visit various shops – some that are wholesale customers of mine and some that are not. I also drink espresso at the roastery too. It strikes me that the variance in ‘quality’ of shots received is huge. Some of this is down to choice of coffee, espresso recipe (different starting and brewed mass pulled over different extraction times), water, training or general aptitude for delivering a quality drink. These factors and more, form the basis of my espresso training in order to produce a set of procedures that a novice barista can follow in order to create a quality drink.

Whilst recently researching areas of development in my industry, I came across a great video produced by Colin Harmon at a Tamper Tantrum event. The video was aimed at introducing the Nuova Simonelli Mythos I grinder. Apart from the obvious brilliance in grinder development research, one point stood out as an action that may give every barista another tool in extraction, even if they don’t own a Mythos. Clean your burrs in soapy water.

Roasting an espresso blend, or single origin for espresso (and any coffee for that fact) is a pursuit of creating full bean development from the inner core to bean edge. If full development at your chosen roast colour is achieved, it greatly helps the extraction potential of that coffee. This is an approach I take to my espresso blend for the area in which I operate, Hull, East Yorkshire. We have poor water – high levels of Calcium Carbonate and a TDS value of 390 or so. It’s nearly impossible to get a light/medium roast to fully extract unless we install Reverse Osmosis. So I constantly look for inspiration from the industry to add to the extraction arsenal. I have tested the above method under RO and standard Everpure Claris Ultra filtered water. It works for both, with extraction gains of 1%.